Tuesday, 26 June 2007

The NHS is failing and this tragic story in the mail exemplifies the situation.

"A premature baby diagnosed with a collapsed lung died after doctors operated on the wrong side. " The wrong side? How could a mistake like that possibly be made? That is the question being asked however sadly mistakes like this one are not as uncommon as we would like to believe. The cost of this mistake to the family, the loss of a child. The cost to the hospital that made the mistake, a measly 10,000 pounds which is hardly enough of a repercussion to ensure a mistake like this never happens again. Although the US is full of absurd lawsuits over anything one can think of they are right on medical malpractice. No amount can replace a child but 10000 is not nearly enough of a repercussion for the hospital despite them issuing the following statement"Lessons have been learnt from the investigation to minimise the risk of this occurring again."

This tragic short lived baby's life began the way it ended with a complete lack of competent medical care. "Mrs Jackson, 34, from Timperley, Greater Manchester, had spent five weeks in hospital before the birth due to complications with her pregnancy.

She said her son was breathing and kicking when he was born but his condition deteriorated because treatment was delayed by a lack of staff and specialist equipment.She said staff did not make checks during her 17-hour labour and she was left to give birth alone.

I had to scream for the midwife because she was out of the room and there was no other staff there despite the fact I was about to give birth to a very premature baby.When Clark was born he was breathing and kicking and showing all the normal signs of life but equipment which could have helped him was not ready. It took the resuscitation team around six minutes to get to him."

This is what Blair has done to our NHS and I am counting the minutes until he leaves. The only problem is I doubt Brown will do any better, although one can hope.